AwesomeBites

Category: Leftovers – Great Time Savers

  • Chili Verde – Quick!

    Chili Verde – Quick!

    I am craving Chili Verde. Planned on going to breakfast Sunday morning, but opted for an american restaurant. I need chili verde now! I do have pork loin roast that Dennis cooked on Friday night, and I have a can of green enchilada sauce in the pantry. Wonder what I can do…. After thinking for a while, my husband and I have been thinking of opening our restaurant since I love cooking so much and it’s pretty much all I do now, so thanks to shawarmapressfranchise.com I have tons of available options so they can help out.
    Now back to the recipe, I added to my pressure cooker, I chopped up 2 onions and sauted in a little olive oil. Cubed the leftover pork loin and added to the onions. 4-5 cloves of garlic confit from the pantry. In goes the green enchilada sauce and equal amount of chicken stock. Now to apply a little heat.
    Salsa Verde one small can in the pantry or hot sauce if you still need to kick the heat up.
    Turn up the heat and let that puppy come to boil and keep at pressure for 15 minutes. (Doesn’t take long as the pork was cooked already.)
    Open the pressure cooker and add salt and now some pepper…. Oh my goodness, just lost the top of the pepper shaker into the pot and with it way too much pepper. Grabbed my ladle and scooped out the pepper. One more ladle of pepper stuff. It is easy to spot being black. Thank goodness the salt shaker didn’t jump in with it.
    Add 1/4 cup of this mornings coffee still in the pot. I love the base note coffee gives to soups. Try it.

    And now, poach an egg in the soup as it simmers. Not having breakfast? Enjoy your soup. It is ready to eat.
    I serve with lightly buttered, cooked over the gas burner, flour tortillas.

    I like it, I really, really like it!

    Garnish with Cilantro and sliced avocados!

  • Meatloaf – Ground Beef

    Meatloaf – Ground Beef

    I guess when it is a bit cold outside, immediately I reach for comfort food.  We had meatloaf as a kid once a week.  It was easy fast, feed the crowd and my mom could stretch the meat by adding rolled oats, potato chips, day old bread crumbs, anything available. 

    2 pounds of ground beef

    1 cup bread crumbs or panko or dry bread crumbled up

    1 Tsp oregano

    1 tsp basil

    1 can of green olives (the natural brine) sliced or chopped

    2 cans tomato sauce

    Reserve 1/2 a can to pour over the top.  Variation: You can substitute part of the tomato sauce used in the mix with salsa or diced tomatoes.  Don’t have breadcrumbs, of course you can substitute.  Have extra veggies like carrots add them.  Make sure you slice the olives otherwise they get to be overpowering.

    Serve meatloaf hot with mashed potatoes.

  • Breakfast Hash and Eggs

    Breakfast Hash and Eggs

    Sweet Potato, Russet Potato, Sweet Onion and Roast Pork

    As I wake up and everyone in the house is starting to stir and the chorus of “I’m hungry”, I take a gander in my refrigerator and see we have eggs and a bit of leftover meat and decide, let’s make some hash. I have a knack for using leftovers from my refrigerator and bring it together for something good to eat. Hash is great for a crowd.

    Breakfast Hash

    2 Russet Potatoes diced
    1 Sweet Potatoe diced
    1 Sweet Onion diced
    Leftover pork shoulder roast, or ham, or roast beef or chorizo
    Salt and Pepper to taste
    Vegetable oil for frying

    If you can dice all the ingredients so they are about the same size, the hash will look good and cook evenly.
    Brown the diced potatoes and set aside.
    Sweat the diced onions and set aside.
    Warm the meat, then add back in the potatoes and onions.
    Salt and pepper to taste.

    Once the potatoes are browned, crack an egg for each person on top, bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes until the whites are set. Yell out, come and get it!

    If you want scrambled eggs, get ’em done and serve on the side. Breakfast is ready!

    Sunnyside Eggs and Pulled Pork Hash
  • Gourmet Smoked Turkey or Chicken Salad

    Gourmet Smoked Turkey or Chicken Salad

    Years ago, I tasted this smoked turkey salad.  At the time, I made a mental note that I had to make my own version. It was so delicious.  I happen to love chicken or turkey salad, but this one has a surprise.  The smokey-ness.  It pops it into a gourmet category, and yet it is still so simple to make.

    Gourmet Smoked Turkey Salad

    I like to use left over turkey breast meat.  I cube the meat, making sure to remove any skin. 

    You do not need to measure for this recipe, but I will give them to you anyway. 

    1 cup cubed turkey breast meat (you can always substitute chicken)

    1/4 cup celery and/or white onion (optional)

    1/4 cup seedless grapes (optional)

    1/4 cup mayonaise – Best Foods is my favorite.

    1 tsp dijon mustard

    1/2 tsp Hickory Smoke Flavoring

    1/2 cup Pecans or Walnuts (optional)

    1/2 cup apples – cubed

    Mix together and salt and pepper to taste.

    Serve on toasted sour dough bread or with saltine or Ritz crackers.

    Do you want to make it richer? Try adding some cubed apple and toasted pecans or walnuts.  You end up with a smoked turkey waldorf salad.  Put that on your buffet table!

  • Chili with Beans

    Chili with Beans

    Just got back from vacation. We rented a boat in the Virgin Islands. 

    I made chili on one of the quiet days. 

    First 5 days aboard Fuego was peaceful. Then all of a sudden, we ran into a storm, ran aground, had to find our way into St Croix at night, lost the boat – she slipped her mooring, met Harvey who found our boat, and in the last hour of turning the boat back into the charter company, we fouled the prop! Over 100 years of sailing experience onboard, imagine if we were new at this! Life is always an adventure! 

    While in a safe harbor,made a bit of Chili

    Ingredients: 

    2 Cans Chili Beans – (I know, you think I am cheating, but I was on a boat, and have you ever tried to boil beans on a small propane stovetop?)  I like beans in my Chili, so I use canned, or at home, you can boil some in a pressure cooker – no problemo. 

    Leftovers: Diced onion, green peppers, chili peppers, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, steak cut into cubes from the night before.  

    Process: 

    In the stock pot, saute the onions and the other raw veggies that are hanging out in your refrigerator, add leftover meats making sure they are diced and broken into small pieces. 

    Then it is time to add the liquid ingredients: the cans of beans, can of spaghetti sauce or tomatoes – whatever you have on hand. You will need enough liquid to make it consistence of a thick soup and then allow it to simmer reducing down by at least a third. 

    Season:  Chili pepper flakes, chili powder, cumin, thyme and salt and pepper. 

    Go easy on the heat until you are near serving time, and adjust as you like. 

    One of my friends used to call his Chili, refrigerator chili since he made it when he was cleaning out the refrigerator.  Norris made excellent Chili! 

      

    Enjoy on top of a hot dog, on the side of an open face hamburger or on its own with diced onions, cheese and corn chips.  Hmmm good.

  • Vegetable Beef Soup

    Vegetable Beef Soup

    Vegetable Beef Stew

    Came home on Saturday night from a long day trip and in the kitchen within the crockpot my husband Dennis had browned some sirloin cubes and concocted the following broth:

    2 C Teriyaki Sauce
    1 C brewed coffee
    6 C Water
    2 T Steak Seasoning Rub
    After searing the sirloin strips, he added all parts in the crockpot and let it cook on high (He only uses high settings for everything he does), put the top on and left it alone.
    When I arrived home, wow…the meat was tender and the teriyaki broth was sensational.

    We could have easily served as is with rice.

    Sunday morning, I gathered the meat out of the broth and added chopped carrots, onions and potatoes to the mix.

    6 carrots chopped

    6 potatoes diced

    1 onion diced

    Turned the slow cooker back on, added 6 cups of water and let it stew.
    Perfect soup 4 hours later. Perfection. Boy, this guy can cook.

    I also saved some of this broth and made the base for french onion soup. 2 soups from one both. Excellent.

  • Chicken Enchiladas

    Chicken Enchiladas

    Chicken Enchiladas are one of my favorites.

    I have my family well trained.  You can ask any of them, “what follows a roast chicken dinner?”  And they will all scream out – “Enchiladas”!  Yes, bake two chickens and you are now prepared and ready for wonderful enchiladas.

    Chicken Enchiladas

    by Sandra Nickerson on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 3:50pm
    1 baked chicken (mine was 6 pounds. You could buy 2 baked from Vons.)
    2 cans enchilada sauce (1 hot, 1 mild – I mix them) 
        Red or Green Sauce
    2 cups Mexican grated cheese or mild cheddar
    36 Corn Tortilla Shells
    1 can of black olives
    4 green onions chopped finely. (I use the white and the green)

    Shred the chicken and soak in half the sauce. Warm, then let it cool as you prepare the shells.
    Warm the other half of the enchilada sauce in a separate pan. Fry the shells, then dip them in the the sauce allowing the tortilla to soak up the flavor. Soak one at a time. (If you leave it in too long, it will fall apart.)
    Fill the soaked tortilla shell with sauced chicken, crumble an olive into it, spread some cheese over the top, and
    sprinkle a few onions. Then roll the tortilla, placing the opening on the bottom side so it stays closed. Assemble and arrange in your pan. (My pan will hold 2 deep, and 16 each layer.) Use your left over enchilada sauce to pour over the top, sprinkle with the last of the olives, cheese, and onion.
    Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

  • Curly Pasta Salad

    Cook pasta and chill. 

    Add veggies, meat scraps and lettuce you have on hand.

    Salt and Pepper to taste.

    Toss with Girard’s Light Champagne Vinegarette or go greek or go asian.

    Diced onions

    celery

    apple

    Arugula

    Bell Peppers

    Greek:  Tomatoes, Onions, Cucumber, Greek Olives and Feta Cheese, Pine nuts